Been a while since I’ve posted here, but this is a piece I’m particularly proud of from my main blog Dreaming of Gnar:
Once again I find myself out visiting my favorite routes, enjoying the day, cranking the tunes through my earbuds, occasionally singing along out of tune to the amusement or dismay of those nearby, when someone suddenly yells at me “Get down from there! You have so much to live for!”
Yes, I know. I’m doing it right now.
I am a free soloist, and I’m not the only one.
Climbing is inherently dangerous. We mentally hit “I accept” every time we see the big red warning in a guidebook or climbing gym, but it never feels Read More

Absolutely amazing…Brayack has done it again, but better!!!
Around 10 years or so ago, the climbing guidebook industry started to see a revolution. Wolverine Publishing started producing some of the first real “climbing porn” style guidebooks…by that I mean an obvious change away from the basic black and white, crudely-drawn-on-a-napkin-at-the-Mexican-joint-after-being-at-the-crag-all-day line topo style guidebooks, to the detailed, computer generated, cant-get-lost-photo-topo-and-heres-some-of-the-best-action-shots-you’ve-ever-seen guidebook. Most remember the first Red River Guidebook and the effect it has on them after first seeing it, and for me, it made me never want to look at a basic stick drawing again. Sure there’s less adventure in route finding and it keeps things closer to what the FA’er experienced many moons ago, but many climbers and Read More

No, its not a typo, its just my most quoted line from the 1989 Weird Al comedy UHF.
But in all seriousness, I did have a great Father’s Day Surprise this year. My wonderful wife made some secret plans for a climbing outing, and even my 5 year old and 3 year old didn’t spill the beans.
The real story started about a week prior. And actually further set-up back in January. As you may have read in one of my earlier posts, I had set some climbing related goals for 2013. One such goal was to get outside climbing more days in 2013 than previous years. Twenty days to be exact. Well, guess what didn’t cooperate with my plans… Read More

I’m in Nashville Tennessee now, fresh off the best going away “party” I could ever have hoped for, and am sitting here in my hotel room with some time to kill. I’d like to give a shout out to all the great friends I met in Atlanta, and now seems like a good time to put do that and finally write down my favorite climbing story…
I was in The Needles of Sylvan Lake (in South Dakota), and the climbing was the scary old-school type of climbing that I love. Manky pitons, scant pro, and the only use for my #5 Camalot was as a counterweight to keep the sling I’d draped over a knob from blowing away in the Read More

Besides sharing the same first name Rob Robinson and myself both share a passion for climbing that has driven, shaped, and defined our lives. I spent a day with Rob at his home crag ( The Tennessee Wall ) climbing routes that he had been the first one to ascend many years ago. This posting will tell the story of my Easter Weekend in 2013, It will not be a short one and will include pictures, an interview with Rob, and a perspective into my controversial world of ” just fucking going for it “.
The weekend started with me making plans to climb with Charlotte, NC local Joe Disciullo. Joe is a very experienced traditional climber with many years under Read More

The writer in me loves metaphors and analogies, which is one reason why I love writing about climbing. Time and time again I’ve been able to apply concepts from the rock climbing world to my life as a mother, wife, and friend. What a lot of non-climbers don’t realize is that there are actually several different disciplines, or styles, of climbing – some of us may have an end goal to climb Mt. Everest, whereas others of us may aspire to touch every piece of local rock that we can. Each discipline has a different set of values, ethics, and goals, and the following is a concise attempt to summarize what life lessons can be gleaned from each…
The Mountaineer: Read More

A month ago, I was invited to participate in a 3-week routesetting clinic for prospective new routesetters at our local Climbing Gym Franchise. It was a tremendous experience. I learned a ton about movement, mindset, and my own climbing. There are lessons to be learned in every experience and in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”
And so is born the first in series of posts, Lessons Learned.
Lesson from Week #1 – K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Setters
What I learned first is that not every route/boulder needs to be comp style or gimmicky. My personality tends toward the analytical side (as if you haven’t picked up on that already). When I look at Read More

After turning in a giant lump of manuscript to Earthbound Publishing at the end of the summer last year, my work on the guidebook has been pretty sporadic the past few months. Mostly I’ve just tweaking a few revisions here and there and wrapping up some interviews. However there has still been one large item on my punch list that had remained unchecked for a long time, mostly due to logistics…The North Face. Not the jacket company (although one of those would have come in handy!), but the North Face of Stone Mountain. For most climbers, it’s always been something to gawk at on the way the ever-popular South Face. The rock is steeper, colder, and more polished than Read More

Six. Weeks. Six Weeks. Six weeks gone, carving a living out of the sky itself, defying the ire of gravity by the hour, and cursing the sun’s lazy attitude. That fool has a bad habit of quitting before we’re finished. I guess it sounds rather interesting when you word it like that, but to me it’s just another day, and another dollar. Another cell tower climbed, rigged, and ready.
Except for this day. This day is Friday. And not just any Friday, this Friday I get to go home. Ugh, I get to go home? now? Who’s idea was this? Right. Mine. fool. I’ve been up since 5am, we just put in a 12.5 hour day, and the schedule says Read More

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